«For more than a year, People & Baby has been operating in an extremely tense financial context, staying afloat thanks to the regular support of its main creditor, Alcentra.»recalls the company in a press release.
The group of private crèches People & Baby, targeted by an investigation after a complaint from the Anticor association, announced on Tuesday that it was opening an accelerated safeguard procedure to strengthen its financial structure. “For more than a year, People & Baby has been operating in an extremely tense financial context, staying afloat thanks to the regular support of its main creditor, Alcentra”recalls the company in a press release.
“To protect the children welcomed in its crèches, the employees and the activity itself, the management of People & Baby has taken the healthy and necessary decision to seek the protection of the Paris Commercial Court by requesting the opening of an accelerated safeguard procedure for its benefit”underlines the press release. This procedure will be spread over “two to four months and will allow the group to restructure its liabilities”.
“This strong decision reflects our desire to give ourselves the means to rebuild People & Baby”declared the president of the group Philippe Tapié, quoted in the press release. “Despite the legacy of the past, we want to build a future based on healthy and solid foundations with the quality of care and the well-being of children as our only priorities”.
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People & Baby crèches: investigation opened after a complaint from the Anticor association, particularly for scams
“Complicity in tax fraud”
The group, highlighted in a book by journalist Victor Castanet, is also the target of an investigation, opened after a complaint from the Anticor association, in particular for scams and embezzlement of public funds, the Paris prosecutor's office said on Monday. In his investigative book “The Ogres” (Flammarion), released in mid-September, the investigative journalist describes the “voracity” of certain private nursery groups and in particular the People & Baby group.
According to the prosecution, Anticor's complaint denounces “acts of fraud to the detriment of a public person or an organization charged with a public service mission, embezzlement of public funds, misuse of corporate assets, breach of trust, complicity in fraud tax, potentially attributable to People & Baby crèches”. Last April, a critical cash flow situation led to a change in governance, with the appointment of Philippe Tapié as president and the dismissal of its founder and former president Christophe Durieux.
